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ASSEMBLY BILL 2611 (SIMITIAN – 2004)

CHAPTER 886, STATUTES OF 2004

Some bill research does not include the Governor's file because at the time we researched the bill, the sitting Governor had not released his chaptered bill file. If the Governor's file is not included with this particular research, please contact our office (1-530-666-1917 or quote@legintent.com) and we will be happy to provide this file at no charge if it is available. Please Note: Governor files did not exist prior to 1943.

As enacted in 2004, Assembly Bill 2611 amended Penal Code section 368, amended Welfare and Institutions Code sections 15656 and 15657, and added Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.5, relating to elder and dependent adult abuse.  (See Exhibit #1k)  Assembly member Joseph Simitian introduced this measure on February 20, 2004.  (See Exhibit #1a)

Assembly Bill 2611 was assigned to both the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long Term Care, Committee on Public Safety and both the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Committee on Judiciary where policy issues raised by the bill were considered.  (See Exhibits #3, #5, #10 and #12)  The fiscal ramifications of the bill were considered by the Assembly Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Appropriations.  (See Exhibits #7 and #14)  Nine amendments were made to Assembly Bill 2611.  (See Exhibits #1b through #1j and #2)  Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill on September 29, 2004 and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on that day as Chapter 886 of the Statutes of 2004.  (See Exhibit #1k)

According to a Senate Committee on Judiciary Background Information Request, Assembly Bill 2611 was the source of Assembly member Simitian’s Select Committee on Elder Abuse.  Hearings were held in December 2004 in San Jose and Santa Cruz.  (See Exhibit #13, document SP-7)  It also appears that there was a report entitled “Combating Elder Abuse – Next Steps for California,” prepared by the Select Committee on Elder Abuse.  (Id.)  We have searched for this report, and thus far have been unsuccessful.  We are continuing our efforts to locate this document, and if we are successful, it will be forwarded to you immediately under separate cover.

The Office of Senate Floor Analyses Third Reading Analysis of Assembly Bill 2611 as last amended provided the following digest of the bill:

This bill increases criminal penalties relating to elder and dependent adult abuse and make them applicable to a person who knows or reasonably should know that the potential victim was an elder or dependent adult.

This bill separates financial abuse from the current statute providing enhanced civil remedies to victims of elder or dependent adult abuse, and applies a preponderance of evidence standard of proof for showing financial abuse, instead of the current “clear and convincing evidence” standard.
(See Exhibit #16, pages 1 and 2)